XXI 



The second circumstance wliicli I shall mention, 

 is the want of knowledge in the selection of sub- 

 jects, as also in the preparation of the soil. What- 

 ever progress planters may have made in other 

 things, the important business of selecting sub- 

 jects is nearly as little known and appreciated by 

 them, as it was before the publication of this trea- 

 tise. x4.mong more than a hundred gentlemen, 

 and their gardeners or overseers, with whom since 

 that period I have conversed, all professing to 

 have studied, and many to have practised the art 

 with accuracy, not one appears to me to possess 

 the remotest idea of the principles of selection. 



Of the preparation of the soil they seem to know 

 equally little ; and two only of the whole number 

 consider either the one or the other as attended 

 with any difficulty : Yet it is such preparative pro- 

 cesses that are the foundation and corner-stone 

 of the edifice to be raised, and the indispensable 

 conditions of the results contemplated. I find, 

 however, that the management of the roots has 

 much more seized the general attention, and that 

 particularly, the use of cutting round them, so as 

 to enlarge their fibrous developement, has been 

 greatly overrated. The common impression seems 

 to be, that when this operation (which is compara- 



